Telkom comes out last in a diagnostics test as the slowest mobile network provider in South Africa. You wouldn't want to know where South Africa ranks in the world...

A United States-based company, Ookla, using its web service, Speedtest, has determined that Telkom is the slowest 4G network in the country.

What is Speedtest all about?

Speedtest.net is a web service that allows you to run a diagnostics test on your internet access performance metrics. The service measures the speed (bandwidth) and latency of one’s internet connection.

The web service ran an internet performance and diagnostics test of South Africa’s telecommunications companies, pitting Telkom against MTN, Cell C and Vodacom.

How was the Speedtest conducted?

Over 185,000 tests were conducted across 55,000 unique 4G devices, testing the network speeds and latency in South Africa’s telecoms giants between April and June.

According to Speedtest.net, Vodacom ranked highest with a speed count of 30.28Mbps, MTN edging close with 28.58Mbps. Cell C was the main surprise as it came at a distant third with 21.68Mbps, while Telkom languished in fourth place with 19.88Mbps.

Telkom slowly working towards tapping into higher speeds

Attila Vitai, the former CEO of Telkom Consumer, had announced in February that the telecoms company would migrate to a more advanced multiple-antenna system called Massive MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output).

This would allow users to tap into 4G speeds at a higher rate than usual. He added that

“We are committed to improving the user experience and offer the best products on the market. The technology will enable mobile customers to achieve data at a rate up to five times faster than current 4G technology and this will result in better throughput speeds and improved coverage”

Using Massive MIMO, Telkom has already tapped into LTE, LTE-A and 4, which it hopes that it will enable customers to reach speeds of up to 600Mbps.

South Africa lags behind global mobile network bandwidth rankings

The broader picture does not look that great either. According to OpenSignal’s State of Mobile Networks: South Africa, our country languishes at 50th out of 88 in a list of countries with the highest 4G/LTE coverage and speeds.

The survey observed 276,192,566 data-points gathered from 23,778 users from November 2017 to 31 January 2018. The purpose was to examine the 3G and 4G experience offered by the main operators in that country.

The top 5 countries were Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and Hungary. Suffice it to say, the survey proved that South Africa had the best mobile network speeds and latency, coming first in Africa, in a list that included Egypt, Morocco and the Ivory Coast.